Running Low on Data? Here's How You Can Book an Ola Cab Without Internet

Here's how Ola Offline works.

Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and co-founder of Ola, an app-based cab service provider, poses in front of an Ola cab in Mumbai. (Image: REUTERS)

You can now book an Ola cab from your smartphone without internet connectivity. The company has launched Ola Offline across key metros in the country. Ola plans to roll out the feature in rest of the cities, over the coming weeks.

“Ola has been piloting the feature in smaller towns and cities since June this year. Starting with four metro cities, Learning from these markets, need for access to mobility even in the absence of Internet connectivity and constraints in the current data and connectivity infrastructure, has paved way to the launch of this innovative feature for India,” said the company.

Here is how ‘Ola Offline’ works:

1) While attempting to book a cab on the Ola app in the absence of an Internet connection, users will now get two options : Retry or Book via SMS.

2) Customers can choose to Retry if they've come to a place with better Internet connectivity, or go with the second option.

3) On selecting the latter, users will get redirected to their default messaging app where they will see a pre-entered text message requesting Ola to book a cab.

4) On sending the text message, users will get an SMS with the particulars of the nearest available cabs across categories.

5) Once they select their preferred cab category, they will receive driver and cab details instantly by SMS.

6) The driver on the other hand will also receive customer contact details and the GPS triangulated location of the user.

Once the internet connectivity resumes, the ride details, GPS tracking, SOS button, and other features associated with the ride will be available for the user on the Ola app.

The ‘Offline’ feature was piloted in several smaller markets like Indore and Nagpur, and saw significant acceptance among the consumers in these cities over the past few weeks. Following its success in these markets, the feature will be rolled across all the 102 cities that Ola operates in.